The Dec. 21-23 ice storm and the damage it caused may cost Oakville up to $3 million, said Town officials Tuesday.

Mayor Rob Burton and other Town staff met with the Oakville Beaver at Town Hall to discuss the clean-up efforts and price tag associated with getting Oakville back to normal.

“We are at the front end of a very long clean up that we estimate is going to take months,” said Burton.

The storm wreaked havoc across southern Ontario bringing down power lines, snapping trees and leaving residents sitting in the dark.

Oakville Hydro President and CEO Rob Lister said of hydro’s 65,000 customers, 45,000 experienced a power outage at some point during the storm.

At the peak of the power outages on Dec. 23, some 29,000 customers were without electricity.

Lister said power was restored to Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital by about mid-afternoon on that day.

By the end of Christmas Day, fewer than 10 customers were still without power.

And as of Jan. 7, only one customer had yet to be reconnected, but was deciding whether to install an underground service on his property.

To date, Lister said $450,000 has been spent restoring power in town. He said that would climb another $100,000 as Oakville Hydro assists with tree clean up.

Costs could also rise because of additional damage from the storm. Lister said on Jan. 2, approximately 9,000 customers in northwest Oakville lost electricity because of ice accumulation on an overhead switch.

On Saturday, Jan. 4, 600 customers in southeast Oakville lost power after a branch fell on a power line and on Friday, Jan. 3, another 6,000 customers in the Upper Middle Road and Eighth Line area were without hydro because of an underground cable fault.

To keep Oakville’s roads clear during the storm, the Town’s Director of Roads and Works Operations Enrico Scalera said plow crews dropped 2,300 tonnes of salt. Scalera noted his department spent $300,000 during the storm.

That figure includes some brush pickup, in addition to clearing snow and ice, Scalera said.

The Roads and Works Operations Department has been picking up curbside brush that is too large for the Region to collect. These brush pickups are weather dependent, so they are delayed if roads need clearing. It will likely end up costing $100,000. They will continue through the spring so residents with large tree debris on their property are asked to email serviceoakville@oakville.ca to coordinate collection. That’s in addition to efforts by the Town’s Forestry staff.

“The initial response was related to public safety. We received many, many calls and our focus was trees and limbs that were over power lines; trees and limbs that were blocking roads; we had many roads that were blocked and many lanes that were blocked; and trees that were blocking people’s driveways,” said Chris Mark, Town director of Parks and Open Space.

“We’ve responded to more than 600 high-priority work orders. I’m not sure how many calls we’ve actually responded to for hydro… The forestry crews really went ahead of the hydro crews to clear the power lines so (they) could get back in and do a reconnection.”

Mark said forestry crews drove up and down every street, scouting for damaged branches hanging over roads, sidewalks and power lines.

Town staff are currently inspecting trees in neighbourhood parks to identify and eliminate hazards, he said. That job may take weeks.

Town trails and woodlots will remain closed until further notice, but Mark said he hopes inspections will begin by the end of this month.

So far, Mark said his department has spent $325,000 cleaning up the storm damage.

That total is expected to climb to the $2 million range as Mark said the degree of damage and work that needs to be done in the Town’s parks, trails and woodlots is still unknown.

He also warned the Town is expecting more damage when spring approaches. Branches, weakened by the ice and snow, could snap under the weight of growing leaves. This means residents should be prepared for more power outages. Mark asks residents to report damaged branches to Service Oakville at 905-845-6601.

Oakville Fire Department Deputy Fire Chief Andy Glynn said fire crews responded to 215 calls for assistance during the storm. The calls ranged from fire alarms set off by the cold to burning hydro poles.

Glynn suggests residents have a family emergency plan and necessary supplies in place to get them through 72 hours.

He also wants residents to be aware that lighting a fire or using any kind of fossil fuel-powered appliance inside a home can create a dangerous build up of carbon monoxide.

Having a working carbon monoxide detector within the home is essential and now the law, he said.

The cost of the storm and how it will be funded will be on the agenda at the Town’s Jan. 27 council meeting.

“Obviously, a lot of that money is not budgeted. We will be looking at the means, through our emergency reserves, how we can manage this storm without any direct increase in the 2014 taxes,” said Town CAO Ray Green. “I believe we can accommodate the expenditures through reserves and other changes during the year.”

And it’s far from over. Weather continued to cause problems in Oakville this week.

Due to the extreme cold, the Town cancelled crossing guards for the lunch hour and said service would be sporadic at the end of the school day Tuesday. It also warned crossing guard service may be affected again today (Wednesday), depending on the weather.

Yesterday, Halton Region suspended waste collection in Oakville due to the cold. Those scheduled for Tuesday pickup are asked to place waste at the curb this Saturday, Jan. 11.